1. Field of the Invention
The disclosure relates to a backlight unit and a liquid crystal display device comprising the same. More specifically, the disclosure relates to a backlight unit and a liquid crystal display device with a light guide plate of a reduced size.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display (LCD) device is a flat panel display device which is capable of displaying images of high quality and consuming low power compared to other types of display devices. Moreover, LCD devices can have a small size compared to other types of flat panel display devices, and thus, can be used in a variety of fields. Such LCD device includes two substrates facing each other and a liquid crystal panel containing liquid crystals disposed therebetween. The LCD device displays images by changing orientation of liquid crystals through an electric field applied to the liquid crystals.
A liquid crystal panel in the LCD device is a display panel that is incapable of emitting light by itself, and hence, a light source such as backlight unit (BLU) is needed to display an image. The BLU is generally coupled to a liquid crystal panel.
In recent years, the LCD devices including the liquid crystal panel and the BLU achieve high brightness and high quality using low-power high-output light sources such as light emitting diode (LED) as the light source of the BLU. Images of higher brightness and higher image quality in the liquid crystal display device by improving transmittance of light, reducing the thickness of optical elements, and increasing the number of light source elements in a light source. However, such measures may entail increase in power consumption and manufacturing cost.